Resident Evil: Project Alpha
by Sporty-Girl
Summary: Umbrella has created a whole new generation of advanced BOWs; Codenamed:Alphas. They are able to strategize and learn from their surrounds as well as their enemies. Elite soldiers have been gathered to test the Alphas' power. Will they survive?
1. Off To A Good Start

Resident Evil: Project Alpha  
  
Chapter 1: Off To A Good Start  
  
Ryan Aguilar stepped off of the humming Night Hawk Helicopter only to be met by young woman dressed in combat fatigues. The base on the military island looked like a tropical resort, it was covered with palm trees and dotted with sand patches since it was so close to the surrounding ocean. Soldiers dressed in combat fatigues jogged around the small base as others continued their physical training seemingly unfazed by the helicopter that had landed. Ryan wasted no time in grabbing his duffel bag from the back of the helicopter.  
  
"Hello, Mr. Aguilar. I trust you had a good trip," the young woman said as she approached Ryan.  
  
"Yeah, those Umbrella pilots sure know how to fly," Ryan joked as he gestured towards the black helicopter with the Umbrella insignia on it.  
  
Now that he was closer to the young woman he could tell that she was quite attractive even though her fatigues were worn from training. She was about 23 years old with short blonde hair that came right below her chin, light blue eyes, and a killer body. She was about 5'6 maybe 125-lbs. overall she was a dead knockout. She carried dual Berettas that were holstered on either of sides of her hips, an automatic shotgun slung across her back, and a combat knife attached to her boot.  
  
"I'm Corporal Tanya Williams, and I have been assigned to show you around the base," the young woman said after reading his face.  
  
"I'm Private Ryan Aguilar," Ryan said as he clumsily shifted his duffel bag into his left hand in order to shake her hand.  
  
"Yes, I know who you are," Tanya said as she turned around without returning the handshake.  
  
The base didn't look like Ryan had imagined it looking when he had been asked by the government to come. He had imagined a series of tall buildings done in pure white tile with a lot of men in business suits rambling among them. This on the other hand was exactly the opposite. The barracks, if you could call them that, were grass hut houses that housed a team of six. The hut barracks circled the obstacle course, or what would pass for one. This was going to be too easy; he had spent most of his life in places twice as bad as this.  
  
"This will be your barracks, Mr. Aguilar," Tanya informed him as she motioned towards one of the hut houses.  
  
"Are you in my squad?" Ryan asked as he continued to look over his temporary home.  
  
"Yes, along with four other of the finest. They put you with the best team they have, so I hope you are more talented with a gun than you look," Tanya said coldly as she stepped out of the small hut and into the training yard.  
  
Tanya stepped out into the warm sun as she looked over the training course. The rest of her team was out there; she wished she could be out there with them instead of being stuck here showing this kid around. This kid couldn't be as good as they said he would be. He was only 5'11 180lbs. at the most with shaved brown hair and brown hair.  
  
"Is that our team?" Ryan asked not sounding as cocky as he had moments before.  
  
"Yeah, I'll tell you about them on our way to sign you in and get you some team fatigues," Tanya said as she started to walk away from her team.  
  
Ryan's fatigues were incredibly simple being the standard hunter green combat fatigues except with two embroideries on them. A white and red Umbrella symbol was attached onto the left shoulder of the uniform as well as an old knight's helmet that was painted crimson. His team's name was the Scarlet Knights so that explained the knight's helmet, but what was an Umbrella insignia doing on his uniform he wondered.  
  
"Okay, now that I'm set up why don't you give you me a brief description of our teammates?" Ryan asked as he took a seat on his bunk.  
  
The inside of the huts were plain only furnishing six bunks and an assortment of lamps alongside the bunks. A bright overhead lamp flickered above the bunks casting shadows across the beds.  
  
"Why let me explain it when you can find out for yourself," Tanya said as she gestured towards four men entering the barracks.  
  
The first man to enter the barracks was a man that was 21 years old and about 5'11 160 lbs. with dark brown hair and brown eyes. He didn't look very big, but judging by the swagger in his step he must have been on many missions. Holstered on either side of his hip was a desert eagle and slung across his back was a 30-30 lever action rifle.  
  
"Hi, I'm Jason O'Herron," the man said friendly as he saw Ryan standing in the room.  
  
Before Ryan could even acknowledge the man, a much more menacing man stepped through the doorway. He was about 47 years old and easily 5'10 180 lbs. with light gray eyes and dark gray hair. The man's size wasn't what was menacing; it was the way the man carried himself that was threatening. He had a SVU sniper rifle slung across his back and a Makarov PM 9mm pistol holstered on his left hip along with a Spetsnaz combat knife attached to his boot.  
  
"That's Vasiliy Chernyshev," Tanya said realizing that Vasiliy didn't care enough for the boy to introduce himself.  
  
Ryan quickly gave a short salute to both Jason and Vasiliy as they began to unholster their weapons and lay them down beside their bunks. Ryan quickly did the same and unholstered his colt .45 and unslung his m16 carbine semi- automatic rifle.  
  
Shortly after Ryan stowed his weapons another of his new teammates walked in. A man about 28 years old 5'10 172 lbs. with jet-black hair and cool gray eyes. He carried a colt .45 and M-249. The man wore a serious look, but his eyes gave him away with a carefree personality.  
  
"Hello, sir," Ryan said mistaking him for the squad leader.  
  
"At ease soldier, I'm not the squad leader. My name is Sam Reynolds," the man said with a slight smile remembering that he had been like him before.  
  
Ryan's face immediately turned red from embarrassment. He should have known that a nice guy like him couldn't have been the squad leader. His leader was going to be a hard ass that was cold and ruthless, Ryan thought as he waited for the squad leader to enter.  
  
As if on cue, a man about 24 years old 6'3 210 lbs. with closely cropped blonde hair and green eyes stepped into the hut. He wore a grin from ear to ear as he stepped up to Ryan. He carried dual magnums, an M16 across his shoulder, and a stainless steal combat knife attached to his boot. Ryan quickly snapped off a salute as he noticed him approaching him.  
  
"At ease, I may be your captain but I'm not your boss. My name's Maurice Dupree," the tall man said as he stretched his hand out to shake Ryan's hand.  
  
"Ryan Aguilar, sir," Ryan managed to say from shear surprise.  
  
"Yeah, I know who you are. Hurry and get your stuff put away so you can eat," Maurice said as he hurriedly threw his guns onto his bunk and gave Tanya a quick kiss.  
  
Good job Ryan flirt with your squad leader's girlfriend, you're off to a good start, Ryan mumbled under his breath as he finished unpacking his stuff.  
  
The cafeteria was tastefully decorated Ryan noticed as he stepped into the huge room. The floor was covered in white tile and the white walls were dotted with various pictures. All of the soldiers were sat at a specific table according to what team they were in. There weren't as many soldiers as Ryan would have thought, there might have been 40 at most. Ryan quickly made his way through the line getting what might have been a hamburger and a carton of milk and took his seat beside Jason O'Herron at his team's table.  
  
"Hey, Ryan. I hope Tanya didn't bust your balls to bad today," Jason said with a slight chuckle as Ryan sat down.  
  
"Not to bad. What is her deal with Maurice?" Ryan asked as he bit into his hamburger.  
  
"He's her boyfriend, has been since she got here. He seems to be the only one that can handle her temper and competitvness. Don't worry your not the only one who has tried to flirt with her," Jason said as he ran his spoon through what passed for mashed potatoes.  
  
"Oh, so is the physical training around here hard?" Ryan asked seeing that Jason didn't seem to be to comfortable with the subject of women.  
  
"Not even close to being hard, you pretty much do what you want when you want to. I don't know why we are even here if we aren't going to train," Jason said as he gulped the rest of his milk down.  
  
"All I heard when my 'superiors' sent me here was that it was for training, but why would a pharmaceutical company like Umbrella be funding it," Ryan asked to no one in particular.  
  
"You got me," Jason said as he threw his Styrofoam plate in the trash.  
  
Author's Note: I know it's not much, but I thought this would at least get you used to the characters a little. And the whole story won't be in Ryan's perspective; I just thought that this would be a good way for you to meet the characters and what not. Well anyways, please review it and look for action in the next chapter. 


	2. It Starts

Chapter 2: It Starts  
  
Tanya groggily woke up to the sound of rain angrily hitting the top of the grass hut. Small droplets of water were freely falling from weak places in the roof. A droplet of rain fell on her forehead and ran down the side of her tanned face. Mechanically she glanced down at her issued watch. The emerald digital numbers flashed 3:30 a.m. Seeing as she wasn't going to get much sleep with water hitting her in the face she silently slid her slim body out of the hard bed and onto the cold ground. Her metal dog tags slapped noisily against her chest as she silently made her way towards the entrance of the hut.  
  
Everyone else in the grass hut was sleeping soundlessly, barely moving in their uncomfortable beds. A flash of lightening illuminated the fairly large room allowing her to avoid tripping over Ryan's combat boots. As she gazed out the door she could see the rain angrily hitting the ground like small bullets. The tall palm trees submissively bent to the aggressive wind, as the sound of thunder grew nearer. This was one of the worst storms she had seen, which was going to make training tomorrow a lot of fun. The sound of rain hitting the ground began to gently lull Tanya back to sleep as she gazed out into the dark sky.  
  
As Tanya began to drift of to sleep she saw a caravan of black helicopters flying through the dark night sky. As she concentrated closer she could tell that all of the black helicopters had the same distinct red and white Umbrella insignia emblazed on the side of it. A huge crate was suspended below each helicopter, as if they were carrying a package. Each dangling crate was easily 12 feet tall and just as much wide. What were a bunch of Umbrella helicopters doing around here this late at night, and what were they carrying, Tanya asked herself as she started to make the treacherous journey back to her bed.  
  
Before she could even get half way there, an explosion sounded from somewhere behind her. She automatically whipped around and got into a defense position as her teammates sprung from each of their beds. She hurriedly went to the space at the door that she had occupied moments before and looked for what had caused the explosion. Maurice was the first one of her teammates to join her at the door even though his bed was my far the furthest away from it.  
  
It didn't take Tanya long to see the raging fire that was dancing around the communications tower. The furious flames licked up the building consuming every inch of it. The communications satellite plummeted to the ground with a loud crunch as the cooling rain began to conquer the wild flames.  
  
"What the fuck was that?!" Ryan shouted as he stumbled groggily out of his warm bed.  
  
"Lightening must have struck the communications tower," Jason suggested as he fumbled in the darkness to make his way to the door.  
  
"Lightening doesn't cause that kind of immediate damage," Sam informed them as he continued to observe the destruction.  
  
"All right, we better suit up and see what kind of damage was done and if there are any survivors," Maurice commanded over his shoulder as he began to put on his combat armor.  
  
By the time all of them had suited up the fire had already died out. In the place of the once illustrious four story communications building was a mound of charred rubble that was still smoldering. The hard rain beat loudly against their bodies as they continued to survey the area even though there was nothing they could do.  
  
"It almost looks like this place was taken down by a missile or something," Ryan shouted trying to be heard over the raging storm.  
  
"Yeah, but by who? Nobody knows that were out here," Jason yelled back.  
  
"We should probably report this to our superiors, don't you think?" Ryan shouted as he stepped into one of the many deep mud puddles that had been formed by the storm.  
  
"Inform it to who. All of our superiors were in that building," Maurice yelled over his shoulder as he jogged to meet another team that was heading up to where they stood.  
  
Maurice knew the team that was walking towards the rubble quite well. They were called the black horseman and were the second best team stationed on the island. Their squad leader was a very tall African-American man with a heavy British accent named Paul Jefferson. Maurice quickly took the squad leader aside from the team and explained what had happened.  
  
"What do you recommend we do?" Paul asked as droplets of rain streamed down his young face.  
  
"Take your team along with teams 3-5 and walk the perimeter. Be sure to thoroughly check the surrounding jungle to the west, I think we might have a squad of rogue commandos playing cowboy out here with us," Maurice said loud enough so that the squad leader was the only one who could hear him.  
  
Paul snapped off a quick salute before returning to find the other squads. Whoever had attacked the communications building had known that all of the superior officers were there and that the tower was the only way to get a message to the outside. Without the tower up they were stranded on this island until somebody came looking for them.  
  
The rain was pelting his face with cold water, but he could just make out Sam hunched over looking at something he held in his hand.  
  
"Sam, what are you doing?" Maurice asked as he pulled up beside him.  
  
"I'm calling for reinforcements and immediate evac," Sam informed him as if he was talking about the weather.  
  
Maurice could now tell that the item that Sam held in his hands was a small walkie-talkie looking device. It was incredibly small, so that it could discreetly fit just about anywhere. Sam was scanning the frequencies seemingly not noticing the fact that the whole team had crowded around him. Without warning, Sam suddenly through down the device which shattered as it hit the wet ground.  
  
"What was that all about?" Tanya asked over his left shoulder.  
  
"Umbrella has blocked all the frequencies, and this storm is going to make it impossible for anyone to get through," Sam said irritation thick in his voice.  
  
"Umbrella? What are you talking about," Vasiliy said at Sam as if he were an escaped lunatic.  
  
"Ye-," Sam was cut off by a shrill scream before he could even finish his thought.  
  
The piercing scream of a man seemed to echo all around them, as the storm increased its aggressiveness. The distinct scream of pain had come from the jungle to the west. The scream had been a familiar voice to Maurice, it had been Paul's voice.  
  
"What the hell is going on around here!" Jason yelled.  
  
Before Sam could answer a low growl was heard over the storm coming from directly in front of them down the makeshift street. Three others soon met the growl as it grew closer. Jason could just make out the sound of claws on concrete as he mechanically reached for his holstered gun.  
  
Through the heavy sheets of rain Ryan could just make out what looked to be a pack of three dogs. Each dog seemed to have a severe limp in at least one of their legs, and they seemed to be drooling a heavy clear liquid that hit the ground and immediately mixed with the fresh rainwater in the various puddles along the ground. Hunks of flesh were missing exposing red raw meat along the dogs' body and hideous faces, and all of the dogs' eyes were heavily cataract with a milky film.  
  
"Open fire when ready," Maurice commanded his voice competing with the heavy sheets of rain and thunder to be heard.  
  
The first round of shots hit the front dog sending it sprawling lifelessly to the ground, which sent the remaining two dogs into a dead sprint for their attackers. As the dogs grew closer a repulsive smell washed over the small team. It smelled like road kill that had set out in the sun for far to long. Saliva ran freely down the dogs' mangled faces as their bodies curled and uncurled trying to gain more speed.  
  
As Vasiliy began aiming for his second round of shots he caught a glimpse of glistening red meat out of the corner of his eye. The heavy falling rain didn't disguise the hellhound that was barely 20 yards to his right and moving at an incredible pace. He would have completely overlooked the hound had he not been trained to check his sides. The hellhounds had sucked the team in towards the front, making them vulnerable to right side attacks. How could the dogs have been able to strategize like that, Vasiliy thought but quickly let it escape his mind as he focused on the new threat.  
  
Vasiliy quickly aimed his gun right above the dog's left eye and pulled the trigger. The dog skidded into a lifeless pile on the wet ground as Vasiliy's bullet found its mark. The dog's crimson blood began to mix with the rainwater giving the surrounding puddles a tie-dye effect.  
  
Within minutes the other two hounds were killed and lay lifeless in heaps of their own. The rain as if wanting to clean up doubled its efforts. The rain bounced off the cooling bodies of the dogs like miniature bullets trying to inflict damage on the already dead dogs.  
  
"What the hell were those things? And how the hell did the know we would be weak on our right side?" Ryan yelled as his boots sloshed around in the puddle that he had been standing in.  
  
"It's started," Sam muttered under his breath as he reloaded his gun. 


	3. Awakening Of The Sleeping Beast

Chapter 3: Awakening Of The Sleeping Beast  
  
Vasiliy towered over the convulsing dog even as it writhed to get to Vasiliy's warm flesh. The hell hound's body was ravaged with patches where the only thing that could be seen past its decaying wet fur was the glint of rotting red muscle. Crimson liquid streamed down the dog's scarred face from the bullet that had entered it, yet the dog still fought to make its way to him. He had shot the dog three times, yet it still kept coming, how was that possible, Vasiliy asked himself as he caught a glimpse of dark hair out of the corner of his eye.  
  
"What do you think is wrong with these damn dogs?" Tanya said lacking her usual arrogance.  
  
"I don't know, but I don't think I want to find out," Vasiliy muttered back as he checked the clip in his gun.  
  
Tanya knew that she wouldn't get any emotion out of Vasiliy, but then again she hadn't really expected to. As the cold hard rain hit his pale face she thought she could see a worried glance pass over it, but just as quickly as it had came it had gone. Tanya had never seen Vasiliy worried about anything, he was the kind of man who did his job and was professional and deadly at it not the kind that was cowardly or worrisome.  
  
Before she had time to interrogate Vasiliy any further she felt a pair of strong hands grasp around her small shoulders. Tanya quickly snapped around, ready to kill her unseen foe, but only found a rain soaked Maurice in the place of her foe.  
  
"Are you alright?" Maurice asked as the rain gently splattered against his friendly face.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine. I hope you feel better than you look," Tanya said managing a weak smile.  
  
"I've been be-"  
  
"So what the hell is the plan?" Ryan shouted cutting Maurice off.  
  
"I'd start with staying alive, and then we need to see if we can find any of the other squads. Vasiliy, where do we need to go?" Maurice asked as he turned in Vasiliy's direction.  
  
"According to the direction of the screams, and how soldiers are taught to scatter, they should be about here," Vasiliy answered as placed his finger on a detailed map of the facility.  
  
The place that Vasiliy had pointed to was about two miles away from where they currently were, and in the middle of the tropical jungle to the west. The deep foliage of the jungle would hide any of the other creatures that might be lurking around making Maurice a little hesitant to lead his team into the depths of hell.  
  
"Alright, let's get moving then," Maurice said as he began to jog towards the west.  
  
"I don't think you realize what you're dealing with Maurice," Sam called from behind him.  
  
"I know that I'm not going to leave soldiers out here to die, Sam," Maurice turned shooting Sam an uncharacteristically cold glance.  
  
"Maybe not, but are you willing to risk the lives of your team on the lives of already dead men?" Sam asked coldly.  
  
Maurice could feel his blood begin to boil at the mere sound of Sam's words. The rain began to feel cold against his increasingly hot face. Who was he to tell him how he should run his team? If Umbrella had wanted him squad leader they would have given it to him. Maurice had doubted his sanity when he started babbling about Umbrella's conspiracy and the awaiting reinforcements, but now he was talking back to his commanding officer.  
  
Maurice, not being able to contain his temper anymore, quickly strode over to Sam enraged and grabbed him around the collar and hoisted him off his feet. Sam began to wriggle and writhe from sheer shock and fear in Maurice's unrelenting hands. Maurice gazed into the terrified man's eyes and then down to the dark green sleeve of the man. Instead of coming face- to-face with the Umbrella insignia like all soldiers were to wear at all times, he saw only the team emblem of a scarlet knight's helmet.  
  
"You're one of those Anti-Umbrella spy's aren't you, you bastard," Maurice spat at the suspended man.  
  
"No, I'm not, I'm from the SOC," the man managed through ragged breaths.  
  
"Amazing how many times a liar can change his story," Maurice said calmly as he took control of his temper.  
  
"What do you want to do with him, sir," Jason said as he stepped up to defend his captain if Sam moved a muscle as he was let down.  
  
"Let him go, let him run," Maurice said coldly as he threw the man down into a growing puddle of murky water only after ripping the emblem of the Scarlet Knights off Sam's fatigues.  
  
The small helicopter was seemingly silent as the shadowed man repelled down the rope dangling off of the side of the helicopter. The cold rain freely coursed down the dark red and white Umbrella symbol that was emblazed on Pierre Dupree's deep green fatigues as his knees buckled from the pressure as he reached the soggy earth.  
  
The small combat base on the island was gently shrouded in heavy sheets of falling ran giving the facility an eerie feel. He silently pushed his wet light blonde hair out of his eyes exposing his boyish face as he extracted a small pen light from the pocket under the Umbrella insignia.  
  
Umbrella had contacted him shortly after the destruction of their main facility that he had been involved with and asked him to come back and work for them. Umbrella had said that they would have done the same thing if they had been put into his position and had welcomed him back with open arms. He had readily accepted their offer, and had been immediately given the assignment to gather battle data on the Alphas on a remote island.  
  
He had been surprised at how far Umbrella had come in their research with the Codenamed: Alphas. These Alphas could actually adapt to any environment and could learn from their enemies' mistakes. Quite an improvement over the Nemesis IIIs, Pierre thought as he traced the course on the map with his wet fingers.  
  
His trip wouldn't be long since he was just looking to gather combat data from an elite team Codenamed: Scarlet Knights. Pierre suddenly remembered that Lord Spencer had said that this was his gift to him, bringing a short smile to Pierre's cold face. A little group of six people wouldn't stand a chance against the new Alphas, and if they did somehow manage to survive Pierre would be right there to clean up the mess.  
  
Author's Note: Yes and yet another twist in the story. If you haven't read "Resident Evil: Blood Ties" you might not understand it all, but I think you can get the jest of it without reading it. There's plenty of action to come in the next chapter so hang with me. Hope you liked it and please review. 


	4. Friendly Reunion

Chapter 4: Friendly Reunion  
  
The luscious foliage of the jungle was covered in the deep darkness of the night as the five soldiers maneuvered deep into the unknown. Rain furiously hit the various plants only to bounce off into the abyss of the deep undergrowth that covered the ground. The crunching of twigs under the soldier's massive boots was lost from the raging storm that seemed to get more intense with each passing second.  
  
Maurice had only been in the jungle that surrounded the facility once during a brief live-fire training exercise. That had been in the middle of the day when the sun had left minimum shadows, now the shadows seemed to engulf the vast jungle. Maurice removed his black gloved hand from its former placement on his gun, and motioned Vasiliy towards him.  
  
Before Vasiliy could reach the tall man that had motioned for him a shrill scream split the cold night air. The scream had come from the opposite direction from where Vasiliy had thought that the survivors would have gone.  
  
"We're going to have to split up," Maurice muttered under his breath to Vasiliy trying not to alert the others.  
  
"Yes, sir. I think that's the best decision especially to cover as much ground as we need to," Vasiliy answered attempting to reassure Maurice that he was making the right decision.  
  
"Vasiliy, you take the rookie Ryan Aguilar and check out the previously stated point," Maurice commanded as a weary look passed over his dark green eyes.  
  
"Yes, sir," Vasiliy answered as he snapped off a quick salute under the heavily falling rain.  
  
Vasiliy wasted no time as he pulled the Hispanic rookie out of the ranks without acknowledging the rest of the team. Vasiliy could feel the slightest tremble under Ryan's fatigues as he placed his strong hands on the man's broad shoulders. Ryan's dark brown eyes immediately darted to his attacker, a chill of fear running up his back as he saw Vasiliy's cold gray eyes.  
  
"There's been a change of plans," Vasiliy stated as he motioned for Ryan to take his right flank into the unknown jungle.  
  
Maurice watched the rookie stumble as he tried to follow the quick steps of Vasiliy into the jungle. Rain coursed down his worried eyes as he realized that he might not see either of them again. He quickly shook his head, trying to free his head of the thoughts as he signaled for Tanya and Jason to close the gap between them.  
  
Tanya's wet light hair had permanently plastered itself to her forehead from the intense beating it was taking from the shards of rain as she passed Maurice's command onto Jason. Her fatigues had soaked through and she could feel the cold rain against her bare white skin as she doubled her stride to close the gap between her and Maurice. With each step she took her feet seemed to sink deeper into the soggy undergrowth making it difficult for her to perform even a simple task like walking.  
  
Jason's mind was swamped with confusion, as he steadily made his way through the marsh like terrain of the jungle. His light brown eyes were peppered with shards of fear as he caught the sound of heavy footsteps flanking the small caravan. The steps seemed to be thundering in his ears, trying to make themselves heard over the heavy beating of rain that consumed the jungle. He darted his gaze to his left and right trying to differentiate how many enemies were heading for the small team. Tanya and Maurice seemed to not even notice the snapping sound of breaking twigs under the heavy footsteps, as they continued their monotonous march. Jason could feel panic coiling itself around his body, making him want to break into a sprint for the horizon and leave the awful sound behind.  
  
"Jason, are you okay?" Tanya asked as she fought to make his darting eyes focus on her.  
  
"Yeah, just a little on edge I guess," Jason said quickly trying to convince himself that he hadn't heard anything.  
  
"That's acceptable under the circumstances, but try to hold it together," Tanya said, noticing that Jason's gaze constantly darted around to the surrounding darkness of the jungle.  
  
As Jason brought his brown eyes to rest on Tanya one more time, he saw a crimson liquid begin to cataract her formally sapphire eyes. As he continued to watch in horror her tanned skin became a pale white and cracked exposing dried blood, like that of a decaying creature.  
  
"What's wrong with you?" Tanya asked shocked as Jason slowly began to back away from her as terror flooded his hazel eyes.  
  
Maurice had watched the scene unfold, but hadn't worried until Jason had become panicked. Maurice silently pushed his dark hair out of his eyes trying to give Jason a clear look at his face as he approached the horror stricken man. Maurice had seen mental breakdowns from stress before, but he had never suspected it to affect a fine soldier like Jason. Tanya was frozen in a state of irritation and shock as Jason brought his desert eagle level with her small body.  
  
"Put the gun down!" Maurice shouted losing all compassion for the man as worry for his girlfriend overruled it.  
  
"Get away from her! She's one of those things!" Jason retorted as a clap of thunder drowned him out.  
  
Rain trickled off of Jason's tanned hand onto the trigger of his gun, as he aimed it at his once teammate's head. Jason, if you kill its manslaughter and you'll go to jail for it, a voice inside Jason's head explained calmly. Without warning, Jason dug his left foot into the soggy ground and pushed off hard sending himself into a sprint in the opposite direction.  
  
Jason's wet fatigues slapped hard against his legs as he pumped his arms for speed. Branches of menacing trees slapped his face as if trying to convince him to turn around. He couldn't kill his teammate, he wouldn't kill his teammate, Jason thought as he hurtled a fallen tree. He jerked his head around, against his better judgment, to see if his pursuers were closing in on him. As he focused on the thick layer of darkness that had enveloped him he felt himself hit a sturdy object and topple to the awaiting wet ground.  
  
Jason fought to regain his balance and straighten his thoughts as he groggily looked up at the thing that was impeding his process. If Jason had been in a zoo he would have mistaken the thing that stood in front of him for an overgrown amphibian or mutant frog. The thing's head was incredibly distorted, and its body was a hunter green which made it blend in with the surrounding jungle. Its arms were nearly twice the size of its torso with claws that hung down from them menacingly. Its upper body was hunched over staring its dead black eyes directly into Jason's. In general it looked like the perfect killer, the perfect hunter. Its chest heaved in and out with ragged breaths as it raised its clawed hand and brought it down hard against Jason's cranium. The jungle turned to gray as his thoughts faded into nothingness.  
  
Maurice saw the crimson blood splatter the surrounding trees and immediately begin to collect in a small pool under Jason's crushed head. The thing that hovered over his lifeless form slowly raised its mutated head seemingly sensing Maurice and Tanya's presence. Without looking down at his ammo Maurice knew that they wouldn't be able to bring the beast down with the ammo that he had, but Maurice opened fire with his magnum anyway.  
  
The two shadowed figures precisely followed the hideous beast through the scopes of their sniper rifles. They kept perfectly still, taking short shallow breaths so as not to alert anyone to their presence as they tracked the beast. Shots rang out from the two uniformed soldiers below them only sending the thing into an unimaginable rage. Without hesitation the male figure fired a shot as he saw the thing raise its head in his direction. The thing curved its head causing the bullet to burrow into the thick tree behind it. He had never seen anything be able to react as fast as that in his entire life, the man thought as he waited for the female figure to take her shot.  
  
Tanya's mind flooded with confusion as she heard a sniper rifle shot drill into the tree behind the monster. The hunter snapped its head back and let out a long low bellow before it dug its scaled feet into the ground in order to lunge at them. All Tanya could think of at that moment was that she couldn't believe she was going to die to this thing that seemed to be hunting them.  
  
A resounding bang echoed through the jungle as the shadowed female hit her mark. Crimson blood began to streak down what was left of the "hunter's" amphibious face. Blood had already painted the jungle floor as the hunter toppled into the soggy ground.  
  
"You never have missed a shot," the man said as he jumped out of his resting place in the tree.  
  
"Luck plays a big part in it. Guess it's a good thing I'm lucky," a feminine voice replied as she jumped down beside him.  
  
As Maurice tried to concentrate on the darkness from where the voices were coming from he saw two dark figures step out of the shadows. The figure that caught Maurice's attention first was a young looking man, his small body stature at 5'6 was magnified in the light of the flashlight that Maurice held making him appear taller than he actually was. His soft brown eyes matched his sparkling smile as he focused on Tanya who was staring absent mindedly at him.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Tanya asked as ran to the man and enveloped him in a warm hug.  
  
"Where else would I be?" the man said jokingly as he returned the hug.  
  
As the man came closer, he could now tell that the man was in the standard combat fatigues for the island. Suddenly it hit Maurice; the man standing in front of him must be Tanya's step brother, Tony Territo, who had been stationed here. From what Tanya had told him, Tony was a dead shot with a gun and cared a lot for his teammates, making him an instant favorite in Maurice's eyes.  
  
"Have you forgotten about me?" a feminine voice called as she stepped out of the shadows.  
  
"I can't believe you two made it!" Tanya exclaimed joyfully as she hugged the young woman who had stepped from the shadows.  
  
The woman was petite and stood about 5'3 with her combat boots on. Her almond shaped dark brown eyes glistened with happiness in her olive colored skin, as if she was embracing an old friend. The slim woman's dark hair was pulled up into a tight bun that rested on the back of her head giving her a seductive appearance.  
  
"Who is this?" the seductive woman asked looking at Maurice.  
  
"This is Maurice Dupree, squad leader for the Scarlet Knights," Tanya said snapping out of her joyful trance.  
  
Realizing that Maurice was their superior they automatically snapped into the position of attention and saluted him. Their bodies stood rigid as the rain hit their emotionless faces making small rivers appear on their stone faces.  
  
"You don't have to salute me in the situation we are in. What are your names?" Maurice said trying to seem less professional than his emerald eyes made him appear.  
  
"I'm First Sergeant Tony Territo. I'm the scout for the Sneaky Jackals," he responded as he had been taught to.  
  
"I'm Lieutenant Alex Rodriguez. I'm the second scout for the Sneaky Jackals," she recited quickly after Tony.  
  
"Where is the rest of your squad?" Maurice asked hesitantly not wanting to hear the answer that they might provide.  
  
"All the squads were slain by those beasts except for a few who are holed up in a facility about 2 clicks away," Tony reported losing his composure as he gestured down at the Hunter that lay in a crumpled heap a few feet away from them.  
  
"The facility is covered with Umbrella insignias and holds mostly scientific equipment, almost like they were testing something," Alex quickly said trying to cover up for Tony's loss of temper.  
  
Maybe Sam was right, maybe Umbrella is behind all of this, Maurice thought to himself as the rain scolded him. But what were those things? Could Umbrella have set all this up, there was only way to find out in Maurice's mind and that was to take a look at this facility. 


	5. Steps of Tyranny

Chapter 5: Steps of Tyranny  
  
Pierre felt his pale face involuntarily cringe into a frown as he gingerly stepped over the uniformed man that had been slaughtered by the Hunter. He had been hoping that he would have the joy of killing all of the soldiers. Pierre forced himself to remove the show of emotion as he assured himself that he would have the pleasure of killing the others. Surely, they wouldn't be as stupid as to just run into one of Umbrella's pets and wait for it to kill them.  
  
Pierre allowed his eyes to fall on the remains of the soldier. The soldier's once brown hair was now soaked in blood from the massive gash that had been inflicted by the hunter. The man's hazel eyes were rolled up in his head as if he was trying to look at the wound that ran the length of his head. It had been interesting to see the man snap under the pressure of the situation and begin to hallucinate. Pierre furrowed his brow as he tried to realize why Umbrella would have called the man that now laid in a crumpled heap an "elite soldier".  
  
Pierre jerked his head up as he caught a familiar scent on the cold wind. As hard as he concentrated on the scent he couldn't quite place what it was. It seemed so familiar to him, like something from the past. In a fit of rage at not being able to remember it, he heavily brought his black boot down on the skull of the already dead soldier. Shards of the man's skull peppered Pierre's black boot as he returned it to its place beside the body. Before he left the scene Pierre jotted down various notes on a pad, making sure to document the Hunter's capabilities before he left.  
  
The menacing Umbrella building loomed over Maurice like a sleeping glass giant. The clear crystal of the glass was stained with the red and white umbrella emblem on each side. The cold rain furiously hit the building as if trying to wash the emblems away from the building.  
  
"Why the hell does Umbrella have a building out here in the middle of no where?" Tanya shouted over a clap of thunder.  
  
"I plan on finding out," Maurice said as he stepped through the automatic doors of the building.  
  
The cold air-conditioned air flooded over Tanya's small body, immediately sending a chill up her wet back as she entered the lobby of the facility. The lobby was elegantly decorated with starch white walls that were peppered with various expensive looking paintings along the walls. A glass reception desk was placed to the side of a flight of stairs that spiraled to the second floor, giving the room a futuristic look. The white marble floor seemed to have been recently waxed on both the first and second floor. As Tanya gazed up towards the second floor she could clearly make out four doors on the upper balcony. All of the doors seemed perfectly placed apart and were all the color of cold steel.  
  
"We left the others in the hospital wing of the facility," Tony said as he made his way towards the futuristic spiraling stairs.  
  
"We figured they were safer if they were higher up, especially since the three of them are all with injuries," Alex informed them feeling the need to explain their actions.  
  
"Alright, let's get up there and make sure they're alright. Tanya has some medical training, so she could probably give them better attention than the rest of us," Maurice said following his cue and beginning to climb the decorative steps.  
  
The second floor of the facility was just as well decorated with pale white statues blending into the starch white walls. The four separate doors lead to different wings of the facility. From what she and Tony had checked out there was a hospital and morgue wing, a training wing, a business wing, and a lab wing. Umbrella had spared no expense in decorating the facility it appeared. Alex's dark hazel eyes caught a glint of light from the overhead lights making them appear evil before she stepped through the steel door.  
  
As Maurice stepped through the metal door he instantly got a bad feeling about the room and the situation in general. The room that he had stepped into looked like an evil scientist's laboratory out of a horror movie. The rows of overhead lights flickered on and off above the small group allowing them to only see the gruesome scene in parts. Blood stained hospital gurneys occupied most of the room while bloody medical utensils littered the white floor. A computer monitor illuminated a small portion of the room in the right corner. The red and white Umbrella symbol being projected from the computer's screen into the room.  
  
"Where the hell are the three survivors?" Tanya asked as she tried to fight off the feeling of nausea that had overcome her from the grotesque smell.  
  
"This was the way we found the room. None of the blood belongs to the three survivors, and the source of the blood is unknown since there are no bodies. All of the survivors are in the room through that door," Tony answered as he gestured to a door that had been hidden in the wall.  
  
"Have you checked the computer for any files?" Maurice asked.  
  
"Yeah, but I'm no computer expert. Most of the files were locked so I didn't work much on it," Tony said growing a little irritated at the fact that Maurice was questioning his skills.  
  
"I'll take a look at it," Tanya said as she took a seat in the chair in front of the blood splattered monitor.  
  
Tanya's thin tan hands danced across the keyboard, each mechanical click echoing through the gory room. Several glowing windows popped up on the screen which corresponded with Tanya's specific commands.  
  
"What's Project Alpha?" Alex suddenly asked noticing that the phrase frequently popped up from the files that had been recently viewed.  
  
"I don't know, but I can find out," Tanya answered as she rapidly entered commands into the computer.  
  
PROJECT ALPHA  
  
BACKGROUND: AFTER UNSUCCESFUL TESTING OF THE NEMISES III PROTOTYPES HEAD RESEARCHER OF DEVELOPMENT, MICHAEL MUNOZ ACQUIRED A NEW SEQUENCE OF THE VIRUS. THIS NEW SEQUENCE SPECIFICALLY TARGETED THE MEMORY AND INTELLIGENCE RETAINMENT IN TEST SUBJECTS. WHEN THE NEW SEQUENCE WAS SPLICED WITH THE ALREADY OBTAINED T-VIRUS THE RESULTS WERE REMARKABLE. TEST SUBJECTS WERE ABLE TO REMEMBER MILITARY STRATEGY IF IT HAD BEEN TAUGHT BUT NOTHING ELSE, MAKING IT THE PERFECT KILLER. THEY COULD ALSO LEARN FROM THE ENEMIES, BUT ONLY IN THE FIELD OF MILITARY STRATEGY SO AS NOT TO ATTACH THEMSELVES TO THEIR TARGETS. THEIR SUPERIORITY AMONG THEIR PREDESESORS GAVE THEM THEIR CODENAME OF ALPHAS.  
  
MILITARY TESTING: IN PROGRESS, REMOTE ISLAND HAS BEEN INFESTED WITH THE "ALPHAS." EXPENDABLE ELITE SOLDIERS HAVE BEEN STATIONED ON SAID ISLAND TO INSURE THAT BATTLE DATA FOR THE ALPHAS WILL BE SUPERIOR TO ANY OTHER TESTS.  
  
NOTE: EXTREMELY EXPENDABLE UNNAMED UMBRELLA SOLDIER HAS BEEN SENT TO "CLEAN UP" ANY SURVIORS UP BEFORE THEY CAN ESCAPE IF NECESSARY. SOLDIER SHOULD BE DISPOSED OF IMMIDIATLY AFTER MISSION.  
  
"Those assholes brought us here to die!" Tony yelled as he slammed his fist on the desk sending several papers falling to the floor.  
  
"On top of that we have some Umbrella soldier out here hunting us," Alex added.  
  
"We need to locate any survivors and get the hell out of here," Maurice said calmly as he grabbed the handle of the door.  
  
Vasiliy slowly trudged through the shallow murky water that had collected on the jungle floor. His cold gray eyes hadn't stopped gazing directly in front of him even though he had heard the heavy sound of the rookie stumbling. Ryan just couldn't seem to keep from stumbling over his own feet, especially since the rain had made the jungle look like a swamp. He did sympathize with the boy a little despite his attitude. It couldn't be easy for a rookie to have to deal with the monsters that lurked in the shadows.  
  
Ryan could barely keep up with the fast past Russian. He seemed cold and distant, and didn't ever look back at Ryan. Figures that I'd get stuck with the psycho, Ryan thought as he gripped his gun tighter.  
  
Through the heavy beating of rain Vasiliy could swear he heard something behind them. He quickly spun around, gun raised to the unseen foe. His gun met with nothing but Ryan's pale face and the murky water. Maybe he was losing it, but who would blame him in this situation.  
  
Vasiliy defiantly heard the sound of something cutting through the water behind him, and it wasn't the rookie. Again he was only met with the rain angrily bouncing off of the already ankle deep water and the scared face of the rookie.  
  
"Do you hear something," Ryan finally spoke up.  
  
"Do you not," Vasiliy shot back with a cold glance trying to mask his fear.  
  
Before Vasiliy could utter a word of warning to the terrified rookie a giant set of teeth slashed out of the water. Ryan attempted to turn around before the thing reached him but his body stuck in a state of sheer terror. Ryan couldn't even identify his killer before the jungle faded into black and then into nothingness.  
  
Vasiliy stared at the gruesome scene, shocked. Ryan's killer might have once been an alligator, but it was easily 14 feet long. Its beady dead eyes were imbedded in an unbelievably huge head while raw meat was exposed from missing scales. Vasiliy wasted no time as he opened fire on the massive beast. Rounds ripped into its tough hide sending it charging towards the source of the barrage. Vasiliy quickly began to sprint in the opposite direction while continuing to fire after he saw the incredible speed of the beast.  
  
Vasiliy's feet felt as if they were stuck in concrete as he fought to maintain a decent speed through the shin deep water. Vasiliy never saw the alligator from the opposite side that had been tracking him from the start. The thing brought its massive jaws down upon Vasiliy's body immediately splitting him in two. The alligator that had chased Vasiliy to his watery tomb hungrily fought for the a half of the meat from the other scaly beast. Blood spiraled through the murky water, sealing Vasiliy and Ryan in their watery tomb and making them just another casualty to Umbrella's massive tyranny. 


	6. Circle of Trust

Chapter 6: Circle of Trust  
  
The metallic ring of the closing door reverberated throughout the extensive hallway that Maurice had just entered. The hallway seemed to stretch for miles, but Maurice knew that it was only about 20 meters long. The hallway was a sterile white and was lined with doors that faded into the wall. Maurice knew that this wing of the facility could easily turn into a labyrinth if he didn't note the turns he took.  
  
"What is this place?" Tanya whispered.  
  
"It's the hospital wing of the facility. We haven't checked all the doors; actually we've only checked the one where we put the injured survivors. We did, however, find a map in that room that shows each room in the hospital wing," Tony answered as he withdrew a crumpled map from inside his fatigues.  
  
"We're going to need to check this whole wing, along with the rest of the facility in case some of the soldiers took refuge here," Maurice commanded as he allowed Tony to take the lead to show where he had placed the wounded soldiers.  
  
Tony couldn't believe what he was hearing. Maurice was asking them to stay in this hell hole to look for people that weren't alive long enough to make it here. Maurice would lead them all to a bloody death, if they all didn't leave as soon as they regrouped with the injured survivors. He wasn't scared; he just didn't want to die in this place, Tony thought as he quickly turned the door knob on the door nearest to him on his left.  
  
Tanya could barely hold back the nauseating feeling that instantly overcame her as soon as she entered the unfortunately well lit room. The room was bland beige with a large oak desk being the centerpiece for the ordinary room. A few personal effects littered the tidy desk along with a half- filled cup of coffee. Various awards for recognition and degrees from prestigious colleges filled the white walls making it seem like a shrine. The room might have once been that of one of the resident doctors, but now was transformed into a bloody tomb for the three bodies that occupied it.  
  
The three motionless bodies lied in a crumpled heap in a corner surrounded by a still forming puddle of blood. All of the bodies were dressed in the same fatigues that Tanya herself was wearing which labeled them as the former survivors. The three dead men's eyes were glued open in an eternal gaze towards the ceiling as if they were looking for a savior of some sort. The longer Tanya looked at the gruesome scene the stronger the nauseating feeling became until finally she gave in to it and allowed herself to throw up in the opposite corner of the room.  
  
Alex cautiously stepped forward towards the bodies, her feet sinking in the plush carpet of the room. As she continued towards the heap of bodies she dared not look up at their faces but kept her eyes gazing downward until she saw the original beige of the carpet become a deep scarlet. She had known all the men personally since they had all been in a squad together, which made it all the more painful when she kneeled down to check for a pulse. Like she had known, there was no rhythmic drumbeat of a pulse in their wrists or necks when she checked. She then immediately checked for any new wounds that had been inflicted between the times that they had left and the time that they had come back. Alex let a short gasp escape her red lips as she recognized the crimson dime shaped holes that had torn through each man's head.  
  
Without warning, a deeply shadowed figure rolled across the oak desk from its former hiding spot behind the desk. Before Alex could reach for her small handgun that had been holstered to her hip, she felt strong hands grab her around her slender neck and force her back against its chest. She writhed to free herself with every muscle in her body, but her attacker squeezed her neck tighter causing her eyes to begin to roll back in her head. In an act of desperation Alex brought her elbow hard into her attacker's ribs and was rewarded with a loud crack and a gasp from her attacker. She didn't quit fighting until she heard the deafening click of the attacker's gun being cocked in her right ear.  
  
"What the hell are you doing Sam!" Tanya shouted trying to distract him from Alex who he held imprisoned in his arms.  
  
"I'm not going to hurt her, I just needed a little reassurance that you all will listen to me before you shoot me," Alex's attacker explained as he loosened his grip from around Alex's neck.  
  
Sam's ebony hair was only partially dry from the rain outside leaving his hair plastered to his forehead. His deep dark gray eyes were not that of a killer but looked like that of a scolded child. His pale muscular body shook violently; whether it was because of the air-conditioned air on his wet clothes or fear of dying at any moment Maurice could not tell.  
  
"Did you kill those soldiers?" Tony angrily asked trying to keep his temper in check but failing miserably at it.  
  
"Yes, but only after they turned," Sam said reluctantly.  
  
"Turned into what?" Maurice asked calmly.  
  
"A zombie. I know it sounds ridiculous but it's the true. Umbrella has been creating biological weapons using a virus and selling them to the highest bidder. I work for the SOC a kind of anti umbrella squad for the government," Sam insisted trying to make it simple enough so that everyone could understand him.  
  
The loud clank of Maurice's heavy gun being holstered reverberated throughout the room as Sam let out a silent breath. Maurice had trained with many soldiers who had worked for Umbrella during his time in the military. This allowed him to know that Umbrella had taught all of their soldiers to hold their gun in their left hand so that they could use their right hand in hand-to-hand combat at the same time if the need be. When Sam had held Alex at gun point to keep her from hurting him he had held his gun with his right gun. That observation alone had allowed Sam to stay alive for a little longer.  
  
Sam quickly released his vice like grip on the girl that they had called Alex. In turn she immediately whipped her body around and hit him squarely in the face. He probably deserved that he thought as he felt his now hot face. She had hit him a lot harder than he had anticipated that she would. He would have a nice bruise to show the boys back home if he ever got back there he decided.  
  
"We need to continue searching this wing of the facility," Maurice informed them as if nothing had happened.  
  
"You're going to let him join us just like that?" Tony asked angrily.  
  
"Yeah, I am. Do you think otherwise?" Maurice asked staring Tony right in the eyes.  
  
"No, I was just asking a question," Tony muttered under his breath not willing to draw Maurice's wrath.  
  
"Good, according to the map most of the doors out in the hall lead to private offices of various doctors and nurses so they're probably going to be locked and not worth looking to far into. We should probably head here," Maurice instructed as he pointed to a huge room with the words MORGUE written in bold black letters on it.  
  
"Where does the morgue lead to?" Alex asked a little timidly not wanting to necessarily know the answer.  
  
"The Mental Ward," Maurice responded flatly.  
  
"It will be one of the best places to gather information against Umbrella," Sam answered.  
  
Maurice led the way out into the long hallway, counting off the doors on his right so as to make sure he went through the right door. The door to the morgue hadn't been what he had expected; of course he hadn't really known what to expect. The door was plain white tile unlike the other decorative wooden ones and bore a bronze door handle unlike the silver ones that the other ones sported. Without hesitating Maurice opened the door in one fluid movement and strode into the room.  
  
The room reeked of decay and gore. Unlike most morgues the bodies were not put in the freezers giving the room a tidy look. In this morgue the floors were littered with at least twenty half-decayed bodies and the formal white tile was coated with a thick layer of dried black blood. Several menacing medical utensils were scattered throughout the floor and several were still in the deceased patients.  
  
The thought of the morgue doubling as an examination room passed through Maurice's mind as he looked at the body stretched out on the gurney to his right. The male body looked as though it had been dead for quite some time since the body was black from blood and was incredibly stiff. Maurice's eyes unconsciously fell on the man's hand only to see the metallic glow of a wedding band on the man's hand. Maurice quickly turned his head to the man's face, but the scene wasn't any better. The man's eyes had been gauged out, presumably by one of the resident doctors, and were lying in a dish to the man's left. The man's abdomen had been split open and the sparkling shards of glass were clearly visible along with the glistening red of muscle. Who would do this to a man, especially a dead one? Maurice thought to himself. Then a sickening thought hit him like a ton of bricks. What if the man hadn't been dead when they performed these tests? The thought itself sent Maurice's brain reeling.  
  
"Umbrella has been known to hire doctors with known sickening criminal records in order to test the pain resistance of a human, and then again on their creatures to see the difference," Sam said as he handed Alex a cloth to cover her mouth with.  
  
"Umbrella will pay for this," Tony vowed as he looked at the dead man.  
  
As they quickly passed the man's body on their way to the door on the opposite end of the room Tanya couldn't help but let her eyes fall on the man's dead body. He might have once been an incredibly attractive man when he was still alive. Dark brown hair was plastered to his pale head with crusted blood. Tanya quickly brushed her hands over the man's empty eye sockets closing his eyelids, which left the man looking to be asleep instead of dead. Umbrella deserved to burn in hell for all the deaths and pain that they had caused. Tanya didn't see the man's body raise itself off of the gurney as she turned to catch up with her team.  
  
Before Tanya could catch up with her team she felt a sharp stabbing pain in her shoulder. She instinctively turned her head around and saw the decaying body of the man that had been on the gurney with his rotten teeth sunk deep into her warm flesh. The thing had bitten clean through her green fatigues; thick red blood began to course down her shoulder as she let out a low scream.  
  
Sam whipped around; he knew the scream that he had just heard the scream of intense fear and pain. He turned around just in time to see the gruesome scene that had unfolded in the small morgue. Sam saw Maurice, Alex, and Tony all in one swift movement draw their guns and fire a barrage of bullets towards the thing out of the corner of his eye. The round of fire splintered the zombie's skull, and it fell to its knees and then into an already formed puddle onto the ground. It didn't move again as its coagulated blood spilled across the floor. Maurice was the first one to Tanya. Thanks to the great marksmanship of the team she hadn't been hit once with even one stray bullet, but Sam knew that in a while she would wish one had.  
  
Maurice kneeled down to his dying girlfriend who was lying on the floor. The end of her light blonde hair was soaked with blood from her shoulder and her dark eyes darted back and forth over his face as if she was panicked. The zombie must have dug incredibly deep into her, for the blood had already soaked down the entire left side of her fatigues.  
  
"You're going to be fine," Maurice lied as he brought his eyes away from the wound and to her pleading eyes.  
  
"You might be a great soldier, but you were never a great liar," Tanya said as she forced a smile onto her pained face.  
  
"You have to be fine, because you have to be Mrs. Maurice Dupree," Maurice said quickly as he withdrew a small circular metallic object from the chest pocket on his fatigues.  
  
Maurice had planned to give it to her next week when they left this little "camp." He had pulled a couple of strings and gotten one of the pilot's to go pick it up in town and fly it back a week ago. It had caused him probably more than he had, but he knew that it would be worth it.  
  
Tanya couldn't even focus on the small diamond ring that Maurice held in his hand; her vision was too blurred. She knew she didn't have long to live after her vision started to falter. If what she had seen in the movies she would turn into one of those zombies before long. It would be better for one of her teammates to use one bullet now instead of having to use more than that and risk her biting one of them later she thought.  
  
"You've been the best brother anyone could have, even if you weren't my full brother, and for that I love you," Tanya said in Tony's direction.  
  
"I love you, now show me how much you love me," Tanya said as she handed Maurice the glistening magnum that was soaked with blood from her left hip.  
  
"Don't ask me to do something that you know I can't do," Maurice said as he pushed the gun away from him.  
  
"You do it or I will," She said leaving no room for negotiating.  
  
"Maybe there's an anti-virus or something around here for it," Maurice pleaded.  
  
Without warning a shot rang out, and a fresh wave of crimson blood began to emit itself from under Tanya's left shoulder. Her body stopped moving up and down from her breath and lay silent. Everything about her stopped glistening except the wedding ring that Maurice had placed on her hand moments before.  
  
"What the hell did you do!" Maurice shouted angrily as he lunged for Sam.  
  
"I'll fucking kill you," Tony said before jumping after Maurice onto Sam.  
  
Sam fell to the ground, two sets of hands groping for his neck and throat. He had done what he had to do, and what had been asked of him. Now he would pay the price from both Tanya's brother and fiancé.  
  
"Get off him now!" Alex shouted as she cocked her gun and focused it on the writhing pile of men.  
  
Before any of the men could react the once motionless bodies of the dead began to awake. They began to shamble towards the three, and those that couldn't walk, crawled towards them leaving streaks of scarlet in their paths.  
  
"Let's get the fuck out of here!" Alex shouted as she began to sprint for the door on the opposite wall.  
  
The cold sound of Pierre's boots on the cold tile floor of the lobby resonated throughout the futuristic building. Umbrella had spent millions of dollars on this facility in particular to ensure that it would be a nice playground for the "elite" soldiers. It had even been staffed with people who didn't know that an "accidental" outbreak had been planned. Hundreds of staff members and scientist had been lost in the outbreak but from the report that Pierre had read that had mostly been reject medical doctors who liked to hear people scream.  
  
No sooner had Pierre started up the steps than the distinctive crackle of his radio sounded loudly in his ear. Why Lord Spencer had specifically asked him to wear a radio to this mission was beyond his thinking. It would easily give away his position, not that it mattered since he would be able to hear any possible enemy before they got close enough to him.  
  
"Dupree here," Pierre announced over the secure radio line.  
  
"Dupree, the SOC has decided to join this battle. One of their ships has been located just outside of the coast of the island. We have reason to believe that one of the soldiers that is stationed there is a member of the SOC. You should find this man and use your expert skills to interrogate him, gather any information you can out of him and bring him to point B for evac to our headquarters. After you do this, return to your primary objectives. Do not let the other elite soldiers know that you are there before we want them to," a masculine voice crackled over the radio.  
  
Pierre felt his face contort into what could pass for a smile as he thought about the SOC. He had been the one to send them the information about the testing that was going to take place on this island. It was American of them to try and send a lone operative in here to handle it, and then get caught off the coast with a ship. He silently rolled his stainless steal combat knife around his fingers as he climbed the spiraling glass stairs. Umbrella would pay for firing him, he would see to that. He would make them think twice before they messed with him again. He didn't really care if all of these elite soldiers lived or not as long as Umbrella fell. Hell he might as well have fun killing them before Umbrella found out about him. This would be fun for him, he thought as he turned the door handle.  
  
Author's Note: A little too gory, a little to dramatic, a little to love oriented. I don't know, but I want you to tell me, so leave a review and tell me what you think. 


	7. Innocent Victims

Chapter 7: Innocent Victims  
  
Alex hurriedly slammed the heavy metal door on the horror that had been breathing down their necks in the room of death as she gasped for breath. She could barely believe what she had just seen. Actual zombies, this wasn't some movie this was her actual life. How was this possible? Questions she didn't have the answers to streamed through her mind like sharks in a deep ocean as she finally regained enough of her composure to look at the room the four of them had just entered.  
  
The dimly old-fashioned lobby looked as though it was straight out of a horror movie. The various blue padded chairs that might have once lined the walls along the room were overturned and blood splattered. The coffee table that rested in the middle of the havoc seemed untouched and held several different magazines in tidy piles as if someone had taken great care not to disturb them. The light colored wallpaper was streaked with still wet blood from some unknown source as the rain beat down hard upon the sky lights in the ceiling. Set inside the wall furthest away from them there was a receptionist desk that was protected by a sheet of crystal clear glass. The only way out of the room was through an old fashioned wooden door to their left.  
  
Alex was quickly snapped back from her gazing at the room when she saw Sam's muscular body thrown onto the tidy coffee table right under Tony. The shattering of the in set glass of the coffee table let forth several loud cracks as the two men hit the table squarely, sending the magazines sprawling to the dark colored carpet.  
  
"Open the fucking door, and let's throw this asshole to those things, Maurice!" Tony screamed as he punched Sam in the face.  
  
"Get off him!" Alex shouted frantically.  
  
Without hesitation a calm Maurice slowly strode over to the two fighting men and grabbed the writhing Tony off of Sam and held him suspended in the air. Sam slowly brought himself to a sitting position on the crimson carpet as he brushed the shards of broken glass form his fatigues when he realized that Tony had been contained. Sam had no problem with this Tony guy, hell if he had been in the same situation he would probably feel just like Tony did now. Which was the main reason that he hadn't broken the young man's neck when he had the opportunity. The thought made Sam question his judgment of killing Tanya, but immediately realized that it had been the age-old situation of them or you.  
  
"What the hell are you doing?!? Let me go so I can kill that son of a bitch!" Tony shouted as he fought to free himself from his captor.  
  
"Killing the one man who knows what Umbrella is doing isn't going to solve anything," Maurice answered coolly.  
  
"What the hell are you saying?! That you're going to let this asshole get away with killing Tanya!" Tony spat back at Maurice.  
  
"He did what we couldn't," Maurice said calmly trying to explain it to the younger man.  
  
"Don't you fucking say that! She could have lived, you of all people should have had faith in that," Tony spat as he finally stopped trying to fight his way out of Maurice's tight grasp.  
  
"I loved her just as much as you did, now you have to let her go," Maurice instructed trying to act as though he had already moved on.  
  
"I don't need you to tell me what to fucking do. I'm not your damn kid," Tony muttered as Maurice slowly lowered him to the ground.  
  
"What's this?" Alex interrupted as she kneeled down beside the shattered coffee table with a scribbled letter in her hand.  
  
The note had be crumpled up and carefully placed into one of the many magazines that had been piled on the decorative coffee table. It had fallen out when Sam and Tony had fought and knocked the magazines onto the floor. The handwriting on the note was scratched out as if done by a very young child. The back was decorated with a picture of a bright yellow sun and a house along with a stick figure of a boy as a young child would do. On the door of the hand drawn house was the carefully drawn number 302.  
  
Febuwary 12  
  
The doctor says that i will be okay. That the shots they give me will make the bad things go away from me. They says that i can sees my jack after they make me not see the bad things anymore. I miss my brother. When the doctors put me in my room the bad things are waiting for me in the dark. They are scary, but they doon't hurt me. I just pretendd that they are my friends and they is just sick. The thing with the tongue ripped my dress last night. i cried. The shots the doctor gave me makes my skin feel itchy today. Like it was burning. I don't like the doctor with the white face, he puts me in the bigg room with the monsters. i got the key out of the bad mans coat when he not looking. he showed me the key last time and told me that it was very important. Maybe i wont see the bad things tonight and I will get to see jack tomorrow.  
  
The note ended abruptly and was stained with spots from tears, but not of the young girl who had written the letter but of Alex's. Alex quickly wiped her tanned tear-streaked face, so the rest of her team wouldn't see her weakness. Damn Umbrella for their research, damn them for killing innocent people, like Tanya, like her squad, and like the little girl who had written the note. They had nothing to do with the research that Umbrella was doing, they didn't even know what they were doing. Alex suddenly felt a surging hatred for Umbrella engulf her small body. They would pay for what they had done; she would make sure of that.  
  
"Where do we go from here?" Alex asked meekly as she finished reading the note aloud to the rest of her team.  
  
"The chief of staff's personal office, that's most likely where they would keep the records of their patience," Maurice said as he pointed to a point on the map that wasn't to far from where they currently were.  
  
"We should be in and out, since his office is just through that door and the last door in the hall," Sam reported as he straightened out his crumpled fatigues.  
  
Without any more talking the four of them stepped thorough the antique oak door. The hallway the four of them stepped into looked as though it was out of the medieval age. The walls and ceiling were all cold gray steel that occasionally gave way to an iron door. Each door had an ebony steel number engraved above the handle, giving it the feel of a jail instead of a mental ward. The dangling overhead lights hung from chains illuminating only a small area of the hallway at any specific time as they swung freely on their own. The hallway wasn't straight, but instead Ted out at the end giving them two ways to go once they reached the end. Directly in the middle of the wall at the end of the hallway was a large oak door that seemed terribly out of place in the medieval style dungeon.  
  
"Should we knock?" Tony asked sarcastically asked trying to lighten the mood and make the others forget his outburst of before.  
  
Without hesitating to answer Alex quickly extended her slender hand and turned the brass knob of the door that would lead to the chief of staff's office. To her surprise the doorknob didn't budge, and only the wood gave a soft creak as if mocking her. Upon examining the cold brass doorknob she noticed the smooth indention for a key.  
  
"It's locked," Alex informed them, slight irritation creeping into her usually soft voice.  
  
"We have to get in there, we'll just have to find the key," Maurice responded as he looked over the crumpled map for any possible place that might house the small key that they needed.  
  
"Why don't we just knock it down, it's just wood," Tony said arrogantly as he took a few steps back in order to get a run at the door.  
  
Without waiting for an answer Tony ran and threw all of his weight into the oak and brass door. As he felt his shoulder make contact with the hard door he heard his shoulder pop. Without moving the door the least bit he crumpled to the floor.  
  
"Looks like this guy didn't want anybody getting into his office, not even someone who could use brute force," Alex said unable to stifle a giggle that seemed out of place.  
  
"The key could literally be hidden anywhere in this wing, we might have even passed it up already. It would probably be best to split up into groups of two to look in this area for it," Sam instructed them as if he hadn't seen Tony's idiotic act of trying to knock down the obviously reinforced door.  
  
"Fine, Sam and I will check out examination rooms one and two which are located down this section of the hall," Maurice agreed as he gestured down the hallway to the left of where they had entered.  
  
"You and Tony will be responsible for checking the patient rooms. The ones that you can get into that is, there is ten but they probably won't all be unlocked," Sam informed Alex after noticing that she didn't seem to grasp the idea very well from the puzzled look she wore on her tanned face.  
  
"Fine," Tony said shortly as he stood up rubbing his sore shoulder.  
  
As Alex walked down the eerie hall she could hear the heavy fading footsteps of Maurice and Sam, and the opening and closing of a heavy door. Even though Tony walked closely with her she still couldn't contain the knot of fear that had tied itself into the pit of her stomach. The menacing overhead lights didn't disclose anything, as the shadows seemed to creep nearer to her as the lights swung to and fro.  
  
"You cold?" Tony asked sympathetically as he noticed the chill bumps that peppered her arms.  
  
"No, just uneasy," Alex responded keeping her eyes on each of the metal doors that she passed.  
  
"You know you don't have to act tough around m-" Tony started but quickly stopped when he saw that Alex had stopped dead in her tracks a couple of feet back.  
  
Alex caught her breath as she silently traced the numbers above the door in her head. The tight knot that had buried itself deep in her stomach began to move up and tighten itself around her lungs as she concentrated on the dark bold numbers. The numbers looked like cold ebony rivers that had formed numbers on the door in Alex's mind. The steel door was scarred with deep scratches along it, as if made by a mad animal. Or a person fighting to stay out of there.  
  
Tony didn't have to look at the door, the number 302 reflected perfectly in Alex's worried deep brown eyes. The same number that had been on the picture of the door in the child's note that they had found. 


End file.
